StarCraft: Battle for the Kaiser Pass
by OmegaTrooper
Summary: Jason Wolfe has been in the Marine Corps for now almost a month. He quickly realizes the Terran Dominion propoganda lies of immediate heroism and glory. Soon, his division will be sent on a mission that will decide the fate of the Kroprulu Sector...
1. Prolouge: Planet of Fire

STARCRAFT SHORTSTORY: BATTLE FOR KAISER PASS  
CHAPTER 1: Planet of fire  
  
It is said that during a battle, your pulse raises to an almost exploding rate. That blood and adrenalin are rushed to the brain to raise it's reaction time to an almost non-human state. But that's probably all in vain when fighting the Zerg or Protoss. It had been three weeks. Three weeks of hell on this fire planet. Char was its name. Dominion Border-Colony E-14 Char to be completely exact. Jason Wolfe had seen things in his time here that he never would have dreamed about seeing in the "normal world". He'd seen everything from pyroclastic flows to people getting ripped to bits by the ferocious alien invaders. "On the left flank! Damnit Jason, watch out!" voice boomed over the headset. Corporal Jason Wolfe turned around to see a three foot tall zergling foaming at the mouth mere yards away. He raised his gauss rifle...BAM! BAM! BAM! Its muzzle lit up in a flame that peppered the zergling with hot lead. The determined little alien continued its warpath towards him despite the damage to its carapace. It was now filled with bullet holes spraying gore all over the gritty black sand. It leaped and just in time, another Marine opened fire. "Thanks dude. Those little buggers have no brains" Jason said in a relifed voice. "No problem. Just watch your back from now on" the anonymous man answered back. "Oh god! They're everywhere! We can't hold em' off! Get some 50s on those Hydras!" another unknown voice spattered over the comm. Corporal Jason Wolfe was assigned to the 6th Marine Division, part of the Omega Squadron Terran Dominion Converted Forces. After the fall of the Confederacy, the military remnants were all alone, separately fighting on different worlds. The new Dominion under Emperor Mengsk had reunited most of them into a single powerful army. The 6th was sent out here to Char to set up a new outpost to monitor the local Zerg spore colonies, and then take them out for the Wraith and Battlecruisers to get through. They had dropped with over two thousand Marines. Now they had at tops, five hundred. Most of them were killed on the first day of combat when the SCVs were also dropped off. They had been able to set up the Command Center and also the bunkers and barracks before thousands upon thousands of Zerg underlings had surprise attacked them from the valley to the north. Now, they're reduced forces were trying to hold the Zerg at bay until relief arrived, or if necessary, abandoning the base. "Sergeant Anderson! Do you hear me Anderson? Pull back! Abandon the outer perimeter!" the Lieutenant was screaming over the radio link waking Jason up from his daydreaming. "But ma'me, there's nothing in-between the outer perimeter and the base!" one soldier spoke up. "Don't dare second guess me boy! I've seen five years of this damned war and I know a thing or two about the Zerg that you don't" she replied in a harsh tone. The Marine was now silent, looking down at the ground. "Wolfe! Are those mines up and running?" she suddenly asked him, stepping out of the protective bunker he was standing next to. "Err, yeah. Last time I checked, we had about a thousand operational mines in the field" he said with a now serious voice. "As soon as Anderson and his boys get into the Safe-Zone activate them" she ordered. "Yes sir!" Jason ran over the corpse of the Demolitions Expert who had been killed in action yesterday in a skirmish. He picked up the small control panel the man had in his death grip and set the "Activation" button for 5 minutes. It only took the Sergeant and his men three to cover the large expanse between the outer and inner perimeters. "Sir, were pretty banged up. I've lost more than half the platoon back there. I don't know what happened to Sergeant Eversly. He and his men were covering our retreat. I wouldn't exactly count on em' being alive, ma'me" "Well then, we will just have to keep the few men we do have" the LT replied, Jason overhearing their conversation as the Sarge and the dozen men he had left ran into the area. In the distance, not to distant, the spider-mines activated just as a wave of incoming Zerg was coming down upon the base. The mines locked onto a target, and launched themselves at it with a suicide attack. Explosions from the mines pummeled the Zerg lines, but they kept advancing. "Everyone in the bunkers!" the LT screamed over the comm. link. Jason entered the nearest titanium reinforced bunker, hit the door lock button and took a position near the firing slit. "They're coming' in at 50 yards!" a familiar voice announced. It was Jason's friend PFC Cole Lance. Jason started hearing sporadic weapons fire along the defense line, but almost none of it hit the too distant enemy. He waited, and waited, and finally, opened fire along with the rest of the garrison. "What the hell man? The reinforcements were supposed to be here weeks ago? They've probably forgotten about us man! Were all gonna' die!" one Marine standing next the Jason said, his voice strained and frightened. "Shut up and shoot the bastereds or you will die!" he replied. His arms were starting to feel numb with the recoil now going on for nearly thirty seconds. His first clip ran out, so he slammed in a fresh one. The zergling, hydraslisk wave was now almost upon the bunkers. Jason heard scratching noises. The zerglings were trying to rip the bunker open. The next thing he noticed was the hydralisk that aligned itself with his window slit slanted its head up and fired its deadly spine cloud. Jason pulled himself away from the window as fast as he could. When he looked back at his position, it was covered in the spines, along with the blood of the frightened Marine whom was now pinned to the wall with several spines through his head. "Ah holy crapping cow!" Jason cried out. "Keep shooting!" another Marine in the bunker said. Jason looked back out of his window slit at the Zerg wave, now bypassing the perimeter. The adjacent bunker to his was ripped open from the roof by zerglings. The last this he saw of the men in those bunker was one of them whom tried to get out, only to meet another 'ling at the door. "Keep pouring it on them boys, they're starting to wear thin" one of the COs announced. Not much was left of the Zerg wave now but guts and broken pieces of their hardened outer shells. There were a few zerglings still running around but for the most part, it was over. Or was it? "Crap! We got new contact! They're coming up the chokepoint again. Looks a lot bigger this time sir" a radioman in the command center stated. "No rest for the weary eh?" Jason asked sarcastically nudging a Marine in the bunker. "Shut up, damn back-worlder" was the only reply Jason got from the faceplate that covered the mans head. Jason peered out the now empty slit at the next Zerg attacking force. "Dear God! How can we stop that?" Jason asked out loud. Ultralisks, mulalisks, hydras', 'lings, defilers, and some devourerers were now slowly moving up the pass. This time, they were being cautious. A third of the previous wave had been taken out by the mines. Suddenly, a loud thunderous clap filled the air. Explosions ruptured the Zerg attacking force, sending it into a confused rampage. Jason looked behind him. The siege tanks, the drop ships, the reinforcements...they had finally arrived. 


	2. Chapter 1: Welcome to Arta Prime

Chapter 2: "Welcome to Arta Prime"

"I just need to know where!" Fleet Admiral Dikeson exclaimed in a frustrated voice.

"To be completely honest sir, we don't know. All we picked up was the Protoss expedition force moving inbound at this sector. The fleet is quiet large consisting of Arbiters, no doubt cloaking other ships, Carriers, and many smaller escorts. It's a border colony world not far from Dylar VI. It is home to about two million colonists and owns several large vespene gas roots" the half robotic adjutant answered. "Probablity of Protoss disintegration of the planets surface is quite high if the Zerg have started a new infestation process there"

"Keep the 1st Task Force here until we get some backup. I don't want to go running off half-cocked like General Duke. Get the Marines ready just in case. We may need them planet side" the General said his voice trailing off as he looked at the interstellar map. It took only a matter of minutes for a signal for reinforcements sent to the Emperor and his reply back to them.

"Sir, Emperor Mengsk wants the 1st Task Force under Admiral Dikeson to move immediately to intercept the Protoss armada

"Damn him! He knows we don't have enough ships. We maybe could have used the Orbital Ion Batteries to help us, but to attack them in deep space? Is he trying to kill Terrans?" Sam Dikeson thought to himself. "Change our course to intercept the Protoss armada" he said, now feeling a heavy feeling of anger and hate to the new Lord of Humanity.

Only an hour through the Warp-Drive was enough to come up a couple of million kilometers from the Protoss vessels. The smaller Terran fleet initialized its weapons protocols and accelerated forward.

"All vessels, this is Fleet Admiral Dikeson, go to maximum alertness and prepare for battle. I am uploading the tactics to be used for this engagement to your computer AIs" he said in a loud voice, trying to sound larger than he actually was. Through the view port, he could see the Protoss fleet slowly moving towards a distant sun. Just then, three Battle Cruisers, the _Agamemnon_, _Shacklton_, and _Waterloo _broke off from the Task Force. Three pinpoints of light appeared on their noses as they powered up their Yamato Cannons. The rest of the fleet continued to converge on the seemingly not caring Protoss.

"All ships, fire on my will...MARK!" the Admiral ordered. All the ships fired at once. Immediately, four of the Protoss carriers, struck by several Yamato rounds listed to the side and disintegrated under the heat and stress upon their frame. An Arbiter was taken by surprise as two Valkarie Frigates launched a barrage of missiles at an extremely long range. The remaining carriers launched their fighters just as the Wraiths moved in to take out the other capital ships. They engaged each other in a fiery dogfight. The Protoss fleet put up little resistance.

"This is too easy. Something has been overlooked here..." Dikeson pondered. "Oh crap!" he remembered the Arbiters had cloaking devices just as four or five of them turned about to flank the task force. The cloaking fields deactivated revealing literally hundreds of ships ranging from the bulbous Carriers, to the agile Scouts. The Admiral franticly tried to reposition his fleet as it came under attack from the side. The _Waterloo _was the first ship to fall to the Protoss ploy. A thick cloud of drone interceptors blanketed the ship. Its pulse lasers were not able to keep up with the tiny robotic ships. They chipped away at its hull until one of them struck the jackpot hitting it in the reactor. The _Waterloo _went up in a thermonuclear explosion taking four Wraiths with it. The valkarie _Joan of Arc'_s engines were serierly damaged rendering the vessel dead in the water. In the next two minutes, the terran fleet was whittled down another six vessels.

"All vessels fall back! Pull back to the position now uploaded to your computers!" the dismayed Admiral called. What was left of the tattered scouting task force now fled back to the protection of the Orbital Ion Cannons surrounding the planet of Arta Prime. They had now been the first stage in a conflict that would soon prove to be one of the bloodiest in the history of this war so far...

The 6th was on the move again. After the man-consuming mission on Char, the Division was moving out once more. The 6th Omega Squadron Division had lost 1,300 men in three weeks with the Zerg siege on Outpost Cider KE-54, but they had held. Green conscripts were pushed into the Division as replacements for those whom never lived to see a drop ship again on Char. Far away, on the world the Division was being sent, another type of war raged. On Char, it was a battle against fire, volcanoes, and lava flows. Arta Prime was a new type of planet to Jason Wolfe. Most of the planet was covered in deep glaciers and ice shelves. It was almost like the shattered Dominion stronghold of Braxis, which had been invaded and retaken countless times. All he had learned of why they were there was from the briefing. The Protoss were making a push on the outer system and they along with the entire Dylar Home Defense Fleet were moving in to protect it.  
"What is so important there that Mengsk wants to protect?" Wolfe thought to himself.

"Ok, you boys have three minutes to suit up. Drop ship leaves the pad in five. MOVE IT MARINES!" the Sarge casually screamed. Jason saw him walk over the Colonel to get his orders for the deployment of the largest joint-unit operation in the Dominion's short history. Jason already knew that over 200,000 soldiers were assembled for this defense. Or was it an offence? Had the Protoss beaten them to the colony? The "Big Brother" colonel never told them anything until the debriefing. Jason quickly donned his standard issue CMC-400 Battle Armor and ran beside another two of his squad mates. One fire bat, a marine armed with a Perdition Plasma Flamethrower crossed paths with him and his assembling team. Wolfe got his gun off the rack and headed out towards the docking bay. Once on the hanger deck, he saw a sight he never believed he would in his life. Hundreds of soldiers were running about, Siege Tanks, Goliath Mechs, and the speedy vulture bikes rumbled around boarding drop ships. Out side the protective force field that held the atmosphere in the hanger bay, he could see the ships of the Dominion fleet moving full speed towards the Arta System.

"Lock and load ladies! Its gonna be a rough ride!" the Sarge, as always, yelled at the assembling fire team. He pointed to the drop ship with the words "Lady Puke" stenciled onto the side and laughed at the soldier's reaction to the name. Suddenly, pulse lasers, and missiles started zooming past the hanger bay door exit. The Sarge was right. It was going to be a _very _rough ride.

-Enroute to Arta Prime Staging Point AP-01-

The drop ship almost shook Jason's teeth out of his mouth as it descended. It grew to an almost palpable heat inside the crew cabin as the tiny vessel entered the atmosphere.

"Hang on boys, were almost there. Looks like everything is going according to schedule!" the female warrant officer announced.

"Damn I hate drops" Cole muttered.

"Just shut up and take the anti-sick pill you were assigned" Jason replied in a flat tone. He was never good at flight. Last time he was in a high speed drop was when going into Char the first time. He had thrown up all over his state of the art suit. Determined not to do it again, Jason had taken three air flight pills.

"Ok boys, drop the ropes and get off my ship!" the warrant officer yelled over the loud speakers. Jason was the second to drop down the ropes onto the icy cold surface of Arta.

"Hell, I think I like this place already" someone murmured.

"Too cold if you ask me. Too bad the Zerg ain't here. They'd freeze to death. Heh!" the Sarge, always with his horrible humor said. "Ok boys, follow me. Time to meet up with the rest of the division" and with that, the squadron formed up, and moved out.

The Protoss had landed on the planet four hours ago, just barely beating the Terran forces. Early scouts had not reported back, and outposts had been blacking out of communication. Sightings of "bug eyed monsters" had been seen by the local populace proving that the Zerg, somehow, were on this planet. That was probably why the Protoss were here anyway. The two alien races always came hand in hand with humanity stuck in the middle. The Terran force started initial mobilization at 10:00 and had 5 Divisions up and ready to move out by 12:00. One of the most intricate, complex, and well defended command bases out of Augustgrad, the capital city, was set up in mere hours. The 1st and 9th Divisions exited their hangers, factories, and barracks to meet up with the colonial defense forces several miles out from the base, close to the actual colony itself. The 2nd Division, excelling in siege set up around several newly spotted Zerg clusters engaging the enemy. Within minutes, the 2nd was under heavy attack and sustaining casualties. The 11th Division along with several regiments of marine support (including Jason Wolfe's regiment) was assigned to help them out while the rest of the Terran expedition force was organized on the ground. The last ready Division would start up a lone attack on one of the outlying Protoss encampments. Within a matter of minutes, the Protoss counterattacked the 11th and sent it into a terrible route. They entrenched themselves in the Kaiser Pass, between a large group of mountains. The Protoss attack mysteriously stopped there. Emperor Mengsk wanted a win. He wanted to show the power of his new Dominion that had yet to win a battle on its own, and he would do it if it cost him the entire Expedition Force of 450,000 personnel.


End file.
